How to get rid of cracked heels and keep them soft

If you are wondering how to get rid of cracked heels, start by knowing what you are dealing with. You notice it when a sock catches. The skin around the rim of your heel has gone yellowish and hard, a few fine white lines have appeared across it, and one of them has deepened into a crack that stings when you stand up in the morning. The fix is less about scrubbing the hard skin off and more about making it soft enough to stop splitting, then keeping it that way.

Why do heels crack in the first place?

Heels crack when the skin there becomes dry and thick enough that it no longer bends with each step, so it splits instead. Heel skin carries your weight with every step, and once its outer layer dries out it stiffens, so the rim of the heel gives way along a line instead of flexing.

Doctors call dry skin like this xerosis, and the foot is one of the places it shows up most. A 2017 systematic review in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research described dry feet as a common problem that “can lead to discomfort and predisposition to infection.” Weather adds to it: a 2016 review in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology concluded that low humidity and low temperatures weaken the skin barrier and make skin more vulnerable to mechanical stress, which is exactly what a heel gets with every step. Our guide to why skin gets so dry after showering explains how hot water and soap add to the problem.

How do you get rid of cracked heels?

Moisturize them every day with a foot cream that softens thick skin, and seal it in at night. This is where the research is clearest, though most of it comes from people with diabetes, whose feet are especially prone to cracking.

In a 2017 randomized, double-blind trial at 19 sites in France and Belgium, 167 people with diabetes and a deep open crack on the heel used either a cream with urea, glycerin and petrolatum or a placebo cream for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, 6.4% of the cream group still had a deep open crack, against 24.1% of the placebo group. Complete healing of the crack was more common with the cream (46.3% vs 33.3%), though that difference fell short of statistical significance. The trial was run by the cream’s manufacturer.

An earlier US trial points the same way. In 2002, researchers in Boston had 40 people with diabetes apply a cream with 10% urea and 4% lactic acid to one foot and the same cream without those actives to the other, twice a day for 4 weeks. Dryness scores on the treated feet fell from 6.13 to 3.19 on a nine-point scale, against 6.17 to 4.38 on the other feet, and the difference held 2 weeks after they stopped.

A 2026 meta-analysis of 12 randomized trials in diabetic foot dryness pulled these results together. Creams containing urea did better than standard base creams after 4 weeks, with evidence the authors rated as high certainty, and side effects were rare and mild.

Is urea the best ingredient for cracked heels?

It is the best studied, but a basic moisturizer used faithfully comes surprisingly close. A 2021 dermatology review describes urea as one of the most common moisturizers and keratolytic agents: it draws water into the outer skin, where it is also a natural part of the skin’s own moisturizing factor, and it helps loosen thick, compacted skin. Our Ingredient A–Z entry on urea covers what it does in more detail.

The 2017 review found 22 studies of creams for dry feet, testing 12 different active ingredients. “Urea was the most researched active ingredient (14 studies), with ammonium lactate being next (7 studies),” the authors wrote, but the studies were of such mixed quality that no ingredient could be recommended over another.

A 2018 Australian trial makes the same point more directly. Researchers gave 41 people with dry feet either a 25% urea cream or sorbolene, an inexpensive basic moisturizing cream, for 28 days. Both groups improved significantly. The authors concluded that “there was no difference between using sorbolene or 25% urea cream to treat symptoms of foot xerosis.”

So urea is a sound choice, especially for heels with a thick, yellowish rim, but the habit matters more than the percentage. A cream you use twice a day will beat a stronger one that sits in the cabinet.

What should you look for in a cracked heel cream?

A softening ingredient plus something that seals. Read the ingredient list for:

• Urea, lactic acid or ammonium lactate. These soften and moisturize the thick outer layer. The trials above used 10% and 25%.
• An occlusive. Petrolatum, dimethicone or lanolin form a film that slows water loss. A 2016 review in the Indian Journal of Dermatology reports that petrolatum at 5% or more reduces water loss through the skin by more than 98%.
• Glycerin. A humectant that pairs well with an occlusive on top.

If a crack is open and stings, start with a plain occlusive such as petrolatum on that spot, and save urea and acids for the intact hard skin around it until the crack closes.

How do you soften cracked heels overnight?

You can’t close a crack in one night, but a thick nightly layer gives the skin hours to soften. A simple routine:

1. Soak or shower your feet in lukewarm water for a few minutes, then pat dry.
2. If the rim of hard skin is thick, smooth it gently with a foot file while it is still slightly damp. Stop well before the skin turns pink or tender.
3. Apply your foot cream to the whole heel, then a thin layer of petrolatum over the cracks.
4. Pull on cotton socks so the layer stays on your feet rather than your sheets.

Repeat nightly, and use a lighter layer in the morning. In the trials above, measurable change took 2 to 4 weeks of steady use. Avoid cutting or razoring hard skin at home: an open wound on the heel is exactly what you are trying to prevent. Our guide to exfoliating your body without irritation covers how much physical scrubbing skin can take.

Editor’s note

My heels are usually soft. When the season changes and they start to feel dry, as if they might crack, I treat them the way I treat my hands: a generous layer of body lotion, a plastic bag over each foot, and a pair of sleep socks on top to keep my feet warm, and then I go to sleep. By morning they are very soft again. None of the trials above tested this, so read it as my habit rather than evidence, but it follows the same idea as the overnight routine: a thick layer held against the skin for hours.

When are cracked heels a reason to see a doctor?

When a crack bleeds, hurts to walk on, looks red, warm or swollen, or oozes, and always if you have diabetes or poor circulation in your feet. The 2017 trial authors explain why: “If left untreated, open fissures, an entry point for bacteria, can lead to infection, ulceration and further complications.” If you have diabetes, have a podiatrist or doctor look at any deep crack rather than managing it alone.

For most people, though, cracked heels respond to the dull, steady fix: a urea or plain rich cream every day, a sealed layer at night, and patience for a few weeks. If the backs of your legs or arms are rough too, our guide to strawberry legs covers the rest of the body.

This article is for general cosmetic information and is not medical advice. If you have diabetes, or a crack that bleeds, hurts or looks infected, speak with a doctor or podiatrist.